Size Standards Revised!

Claiming Small Business Status? It is important to know that there are sizing rules and regulations that you must use to determine whether or not your business is considered small. And, the definition of small depends on your business’s industry based on NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) codes.

At the federal level, being classified as a small business means the owners may be to take advantage of US government programs, SBA loans and contracting opportunities that are reserved exclusively for small businesses.

The good news for SDMWVBE (Small, Disadvantaged, Minority, Women, or Veteran Business Enterprise) business owners may be that the SBA increased the monetary-based (e.g., sales, receipts, assets, net worth, and net income) industry size standards to account for the inflation that has occurred since their last adjustment in 2008. These size standards set the ceiling or upper limit of average sales a business (including its subsidiaries and affiliates) may achieve and still be entitled to claim classification as a small business concern. Some of the industries impacted by these changes include: Administrative & Support; Agriculture/Forestry/ Fishing & Hunting; Arts/Entertainment & Recreation; Construction; Educational Services; Finance & Insurance; Health Care & Social Assistance; Information; Mining; Professional, Technical & Scientific Services; Real Estate & Rental and Leasing; Retail/Wholesale Trade; Transportation & Warehousing; Utilities; Waste Management & Remediation Services.  You can learn more about how the SBA establishes, reviews and modifies size standards in its Size Standards Methodology white paper.

SDMWVBE companies should log into SAM to see if any of its NAICS codes were impacted by this change. Once logged in, Go to the Reps & Certs section and at 52.212-3 an exclamation point “!” next to the “Small Business” value for those NAICS codes that may have changed in its registration.  The business owner will need to review and resubmit the business’s registration to apply the new size standard.